Golden Boy Promotions is preparing a cease-and-desist letter aimed at Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, TKO Group Holdings, Paramount and Saudi Arabia’s Sela, escalating a fight over Ryan Garcia just as a rumored announcement was expected on Sunday. Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy allege the group interfered with Garcia ahead of a planned title-fight reveal.
The timing matters because the bout had been whispered about for weeks as a September 12 meeting in Las Vegas, and the planned announcement was tied to UFC 328 on Sunday from the White House on Paramount+. Garcia, the WBC welterweight champion, would have been making his first title defense against Conor Benn, a 25-1 fighter with 14 knockouts from England.
That is the fight Golden Boy now wants to stop, at least on paper. The letter also names Garcia adviser Guadalupe Valencia, widening the dispute beyond promoters and into the fighter’s inner circle. It puts several major players on notice before any official announcement can lock in the bout.
The move lands one day after De La Hoya told reporters he was open to negotiating with all major boxing promoters, including White and his first-year promotion. Instead, he was said to be blindsided when Zuffa Boxing was poised to announce Garcia’s first title defense. Golden Boy’s letter goes further, alleging it had not taken part in any financial dealings or related negotiations tied to the fight.
Garcia, 25-2 with 20 knockouts, remains one of boxing’s most visible names, and Benn’s 25-1 record and 14 knockouts make the matchup attractive enough to draw a public fight over the right to announce it. Whether the September 12 plan survives the cease-and-desist letter is now the central question, and for the moment the bout exists in the same place as the threat against it: not yet off, but not secure enough to call done.
